


When in Erebor

by denytheworld



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-08
Updated: 2014-02-08
Packaged: 2018-01-11 14:02:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1173928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/denytheworld/pseuds/denytheworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Dwalin/Nori] </p><p>Nori upsets Dwalin.</p><p>Or: Dwalin is surprisingly sensitive and Nori's an oblivious tool.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When in Erebor

**Author's Note:**

> I just really love them.

Nori, more often than not, _was_ in Erebor.

He had the wanderlust in him, always had and probably always will. His ma, from what he could remember of her, had worried after him. He hadn't been born under the shadow of the mountain and took to the warm rays of sunshine and open dirt paths like a _man_ \- or even worse, _an elf_.

His pa, though he was always carefully introduced as his mother's _friend_ , only laughed. "It is how it is. Nori's going to be quite the warrior, off on campaigns more often than not."

But he had always been too small and frail looking. He was quick and sure on his feet, but lacked the power his mother passed on to Dori and Ori. Even in his youth, the bullies of their rundown neighbourhood didn't bother with him. He was _too easy._ The wind could knock him over and blow him away, they say.

And Nori let it.

He wanders as far as his feet could take him, coming back every few years to check up on his brothers. He picks up friends, enemies, lovers, trades and languages as easily as he picks up gold coins and jewels. He likes it.

"No respectable dwarf wanders around, roaming the lands when he has family and a mountain to return to!" Dori had often spat when he _did_ sneak a visit, calling him _reprobate_ , _thief_ , and _a blight on the House of Ri_.

He's still a reprobate, thief and probably still a horrible unsightly blight on the House of Ri, but he was in Erebor now. And in Erebor, no one dared to say that to his face or otherwise. His days in Erebor are far from idle - he spends them roaming from the royal palace, the judiciary courts, the high market, the residences, the mines, the taverns, inns and guild halls and the slums and the mountainsides. He spends his days roaming - he's got the wanderlust in him, though he daren't go far.

He makes a trip or two to Dale every few days.

That was as far as he went. Compared to the dwarf who had skipped out of Ered Luin's jail cells and ended up in the Far East, having chosen his intended destination by spinning a broken broomstick handle... he was almost _domesticated_.

No one sees him, of course and if they all think he's made his way from Erebor to Ered Luin and back again over the course of four months, when really, he'd been slumming it in the back alleys of taverns and hide outs, then he wasn't going to correct anyone. He's got to maintain his reputation _somehow_.

After that _last_ adventure - topped off with a dead dragon and a battle, Nori wasn't too eager to set off again.

He likes Erebor.

And if he liked some place, he stayed.

He liked that the Company were there. He liked having his brothers close. And he liked, though he would never admit it aloud, he liked having Dwalin, son of Fundin.

They fucked.

Anywhere, everywhere - whenever Nori had the itch and decided it was enough with the hiding. He'd slip out of the shadows and pull that great growling dwarf away. Back alleyways, deserted hallways and chambers, behind stalls and shops and even once, in a carriage to Dale. They've started fucking in Dwalin's rooms now, though he hadn't a clue when exactly that had happened.

He liked it, so it stayed that way.

\- - -

Nori was still hiding, well into his third month since he'd supposedly left Erebor, when Dwalin runs into him. It was unbearably awkward and he'd never been so embarrassed. The grungy dwarfling of a thief had barely clambered over the low wall to Nori's left, an alleyway Nori had _just_ stepped out of, when Dwalin appeared. The thief Dwalin had been chasing made a swift getaway now that Nori was the unwitting distraction and it was just _humiliating!_ Caught by the guards when he wasn't even doing anything remotely illegal.

"I thought you were in the Iron Hills." Slightly flushed from the chase and as big and wide as he'd left him, Dwalin looked... surprised, happy, suspicious, _hurt_.

"I was." Nori found that it was easiest to let other people make his lies for him.

"Did you just get back?" He was grabbing onto his forearm, firm enough to hold him but loose enough that he would leave no mark. Nori frowned and pulled his arm away. No touching was a rule and Dwalin should know better.

"No. Been a few weeks." The lies are coming fast and quick. Nori suspects he'll ask after Ori and Dori next, fumbling for something to say. Dwalin had never been good at interrogating the prisoners - he was better with an axe or even just a menacing growl. He opens his mouth to answer, ' _No, haven't seen the two of them just yet. I'll drop in when I feel like it.'_ The truth, actually - but Dwalin doesn't ask.

Instead, he lets out a tiny sigh of, " _Oh_."

They were left standing far too close and watching one another. But enough of this, Nori had places to be - anywhere but here, really. "You have a thief to catch." Nori reminds him, a slight jeering note as he sidles past, "Unless you need _my_ help, guard-boy."

"Fuck off, Nori." And Dwalin stalks past him, heading deeper into the mountain and in the complete opposite direction of the thief. Nori watched him go, crossing his arms as he mulled over those parting words.

He sounded, for a brief second, like he was angry.

It was none of his business.

\- - -

It took another two months before Nori officially returned to Erebor, dropping in on the Company, passing out gifts and mementos, as if he'd actually left the mountain's shadow. He threw himself back into the group with such gusto, it was like he'd never left. Truth be told, Nori did spend some part of his days watching over them - but if they'd noticed that Nori understood an inside joke he hadn't been there for, they were too drunk or simply didn't care to point it out.

All was well for this dwarf and he wasn't planning on leaving for a little while. It was winter now and the roads had all frozen over. He'd have to wait until the roads were well thawed and the caravans started moving again - sometime in late spring, when the rains were more manageable and the sun was an ever present companion. He'd like a nice tan and come back as dark as a walnut and give Dori a conniption.

In such a fine mood was he, that Nori hadn't noticed that Dwalin was avoiding him. Until Dori pointed it out.

It was rare to have a moment alone together, the two elder brothers of Ri. It was an unspoken agreement that Ori was to be present when the brothers were in each other's vicinity back when Nori was a _reprobate, thief and blight on the Noble House of Ri_. Now, though, things were better - _slightly_. "You're using your room."

Things were better so long as Nori told Dori nothing and Dori didn't ask. Granted, Dori wasn't asking. He was commenting, calculating green eyes peering over the top of his tea cup - _Southwestern style, glaze from Ironfoot potters_ , Nori had given it to him for his birthday last year.

"... _Shouldn't_ I use my room?" Nori asked, setting his own tea cup down. If there was going to be an altercation, he'd best drop all the breakable things.

Dori gave him a _look_. It was one of those - _I can't believe how thick you are_ \- looks. Nori would have bristled at being the recipient, but he really didn't know what Dori was getting at this time. "You don't usually use your room."  

That's true. "Yeah, well that's because I'm always at - " Nori almost bit his tongue to stop the words from leaving his mouth. This was one of those things Dori wasn't supposed to ask about and Nori wasn't supposed to tell.

"Where, exactly?" But Dori _was_ asking.

"I've got to go."

\- - -

He could have simply confronted him.

But straightforward had never been his style. Besides, now that he knew that Dwalin was avoiding him, he was feeling less than _happy_ with the surly dwarf as well. How _dare_ he ignore him? How _dare_ he make Nori worry?

Because he _was_ worrying.

Dwalin was avoiding him, no doubt angry about some imagined slight or another.

And Nori, for the life of him, wanted to know what he did - or didn't do.

He even wanted to fix it.

For someone like Nori, who replaced broken things rather than fixing them, it left a sour taste in his mouth.

So Nori stole all his things.

It was a beautiful heist, expertly carried out, with nary a hair left behind. From his clothes to his bedroom door, his dresser to his paltry collection of jewellery, Nori took it all.

It took him the better part of the day to sneak these things back to one of his storage suites, but by the end of it, Nori was giddy and so _very_ pleased wit himself.

Then he waited.

But Dwalin did not come. From what Bofur had told him, having heard from Oin, who heard from a _very_ bemused Balin, Dwalin had simply went out and replaced his things as best he could. He was a rich dwarf now, in possession of a fourteenth of Erebor's vast wealth. And unless Nori was skilled enough to steal _that_ , Nori suspected Dwalin was going to keep replacing everything he stole.

_Well, then._

Dwalin was asleep when he snuck inside, walking through the front door as he pleased. While he was miffed that he'd _lost_ this battle, it still tickled him in places to imagine Dwalin's reaction. In sleep, Dwalin did not resemble the fearsome figure all criminals back in Ered Luin had grown to look out for. He looked small and still, curled in on himself, limbs tucked in and if he had been on campaign, Nori suspected the place where _he'd_ usually rest would be filled by his axes.

His axes, Grasper and Keeper, were propped by the head of his new bed. They were easily within range and Nori had the good sense to move them away lest Dwalin try to behead him tonight. Kicking off his boots, Nori sidled into bed, pressing close enough to feel Dwalin's warmth but not close enough to _touch_. He didn't know what sort of reception he would receive and really, he didn't -

A thick arm wrapped around his middle and pulled him tight against a firm chest. Nori relaxed despite the rough treatment. "I'm not fucking you tonight, Nori."

But he didn't want to fuck.

Not this time.

"Shut up and sleep, idiot."

 

 

 


End file.
